Little Moments

So life's been a bit crazy these past few weeks.

First, my family was in for Thanksgiving, then two days after that was over Murray, Gavin and I flew to Ottawa to visit my sister Alex. There have been a few times when I've sat down to post, but then something comes up and it never gets done. Story of my life, really.

Ottawa was really nice. I hadn't been there in over ten years, and even then it was a quick daytrip while I was staying in Montreal. I'd never stayed in the city proper. Alex has lived there for over three years already and, seeing as she's finished school this year (hopefully) and doesn't know where she's going to end up, going to visit here was kind of a "now or never" proposition.

We had great fall weather while we were there. The mornings were cool, but the sun was out every day. We did all the usual tourist-y things: Parliament Hill, the Museum of Civilization, Byward Market, and the National Gallery. I would have liked to see Question Period while we were on the Hill, but it was a constituency week so all of the MPs were out of town. Oh well. It probably would have annoyed me more than anything anyway. A good friend of ours took us out to the Gatineau Hills the afternoon before we left. I wish we could have had more time to explore the different trails there, but it's not like I could do too much physical activity. I'm excited for this baby to be born, but not quite yet.

All in all it was really nice trip, a good break before the baby comes and life gets crazier than we can imagine right now. My absolute favorite moment happened the morning before we left. Murray wanted to go back to Parliament Hill (it was a short walk from our hotel) and let Gavin run around on the lawn. It was a beautiful morning; the sky was clear and sunny and there was no wind. Gavin would throw his ball to me and I would gently lob it back. We went back and forth for awhile until another little girl came up and wanted to play. There was a bit of a scuffle over proper ownership of the ball (the little girl wouldn't give it up), but it ended without any violence. Then Gavin noticed some birds flying around and tried to chase them. Murray went after him and they alternated between chasing birds and throwing the ball. I just stood there and watched my husband and little boy running around and was filled with contentment. It was as perfect a moment as I could imagine.